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Friday, May 1, 2009

English Gardens - Part 2

This is where my love with lavender began...Standen. Standen is located in West Sussex. It was built in 1892 and designed by Phillip Webb. Webb was a lifelong friend of William Morris. Morris is well known as a pioneering designer of the textiles/wallpapers. His designs were all derived from nature. This entire home was decorated by Webb and Morris. There were field of lavender every where. You could smell it all over the property. The property sits on 12 acres that are beautifully landscaped. It has trails and paths that wind all over the property. A view of one of the gardens
A view from one of the trails looking over the property
For more information and photos of Standen you can go here: http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-visits/w-findaplace/w-standen.htm
And now for the icing on the cake.....Hampton Court Palace.
Well I could go on for days about this one. It will leave you speechless.
In 1514 Lord Chamberlain leased the property and modernized the medieval manor. 1514 Thomas Wolsey leased it and began building it on a grander scale. Henry VIII then took over in 1529 and added on and remodeled. Late in 1689 Sir Christopher Wren demolished most of it to build for William & Mary. In 1838 Queen Victoria reopened the gardens. Now that may bore some you, but you will be amazed by what goes on at the palaces. One builds it, one tears it down because it wasn't good enough.
Jane Seymour (#3)gave birth to their son here. Henry VIII divorced Anne of Cleves here, and kept her under house arrest. He married his 6th wife Kathryn Parr here. Lots if interesting things went on at this place. And I have a slight obsession with Henry VIII...he was an interesting character. Shakespeare also preformed in the Great Hall for King James I. Pretty cool.
The park covers 750 acres, the formal gardens cover 60 acres. The palace alone covers 6 acres. To this day the Great Vine still produces grapes. The Great Vine was planted in 1768 and still grows! You must google this...it is quite amazing. They have taken 100's of cuttings from it and sold, or grown. Just in case the original ever dies.
The Privy Garden was designed in 1702
The park also has a huge maze that was created in 1690, it covers 1/3 of an acres, and consists of half a mile of winding paths. It is created by yew trees that are 7' high. It takes on average 20 minutes to reach the center.
I was told by several people, and I have read it as well, that Alice in Wonderland's garden was based on Hampton Court Palace. The rose garden, the maze, and the formal gardens. Supposedly the Queen of Hearts character was based on Henry VIII. Quite Interesting. If you ever have the chance to visit Hampton Court Palace you will see the similarities.
I was amazed at the trees. Can you imagine trimming all of those trees! There are hundreds of them. My pictures really do the place no justice. So please go to the website below for more info, and photos. You must see the garden.
Well I am all depressed now because I would rather be in England visiting stunning gardens than sitting here ...sigh!

11 comments:

Randy said...

I love formal gardens, but my goodness, can you image the maintenance on one. More work than I'm willing to do.

Dirt Princess said...

They have full time horticulturist...obviously. I think it would be really nice to work somewhere like that. You would get lots of great plants, lots of ecperience. It would be nice to garden for a living :)

Victoria Williams said...

I can see that the gardens in Alice would come from the Hampton Court gardens. "Alice" has always been a dear story to me.
Wouldn't we all love to be on vacation, viewing gorgeous gardens all the time? I know I would.

Seasonal Wisdom said...

Nice pix, dirt princess. Those English royals had it pretty good, I tell you...

Prospero said...

That's quite a tour of old England. Thanks for putting that together. P.S. I love your new signature.

Betsy Banks Adams said...

Hi DP, Those gardens are so so so gorgeous. My hubby has been to England---but I've never been there. All I can say is WOW...

My relatives on my mother's side originally came from England.. Maybe someday I'll get there.

Have a wonderful day and week. I'll post one more time in the morning--but then I'll be gone for about 9 days.

Hugs,
Betsy

Dirt Princess said...

K&V - I love Alice in Wonderland too. Especially after seeing Hampton Court

Seasonal Wisdom - There were a few draw backs! #1 being that you birthed your child in front of about 100 people!

Prospero- Thanks :0

Betsy - You need to go! You would love it. You are going to have A LOT to catch up on when you come back! Have fun on your trip and be safe

Heather said...

Very pretty! I would love to someday travel to these types of places and look over the famous gardens.

Unknown said...

What a beautiful tour! I wish I could visit one of these gardens some day...
Love the photos on your sidebar--the wedding photos, especially. And thanks for stopping by my blog. have a lovely weekend!

EB said...

I love Standen but I don't really remember the garden there - apart from about 3 stories of wisteria! We were at Hampton Court on Friday for a concert but didn't get there in time to look round (the traffic was grim). The lighting on the building was amazing though!

Dirt Princess said...

Heather - there are so many amazing gardens and places around the world to see.

Kanak - Glad you enjoyed your visit

Emily - I am so JEALOUS!!! How amazing to go there for a concert. Lucky lady!

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